Collective residencies / Cinema- Screenwriting for films II / Olot
SERGI PORTABELLA BERTRAND
From Monday, 16 May 2022 to Friday, 27 May 2022
Bio
After finishing his degree in Film at Escac, he has worked as an editor, director for music videos, commercials and others and as a screenwriter for, among other things, the TV series KMM, for Televisió de Catalunya. He has written and directed the short films Te quiero (2009), The Astronaut on the Roof (2010) and El fin del mundo será en Brasil (2013), selected in more than 250 festivals worldwide and awarded more than 70 accolades. His first feature, Jean-François i el sentit de la vida, premiered in cinemas in Spain in July 2018 after participating in film festivals, both in Spain and abroad. It was nominated to the Catalan Film Awards, Premis Gaudí. He teaches film direction at ESCAC and collaborates with the educative program Cinema en curs.
Project
La balena is the project for my second feature film. It's the story of a 40-year-old "young" man that, after almost a decade living abroad, comes back home to Barcelona, having accomplished none of his goals and with a deep sense of failure. So far, I have a ten-page outline and lots of notes and ideas for changes I want to make for the next draft. My goal at Faber is to write a new stronger treatment for the film.
The outcome of my stay at Faber-Llull is extremely positive. Not only for the time to write in a unique setting, far from the duties of the everyday, the comfortable setting and the excellent treatment from the staff. What I value the most from my stay is the constant exchange of ideas and impressions. Both in the mentorship sessions as in more informal exchanges with the other residents, during meals or going for a walk at the end of the day. This opportunity to share my project, ideas, progress and doubts allowed me to get a new perspective of what I was writing, the problems I found, the solutions I imagined and the doubts that I had. A perspective that is hard to get when working alone and that allowed me to make great progress, deepen and understand much better the implications of what I was working on. If we could always benefit from exchange spaces like this, writing would be easier and our projects, certainly, much better.